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Janson, Julie: The Light Horse Ghost

Julie Janson

The Light House Ghost, Nibago, Avalon, NSW, 2018; electronic version available

From the World War 1 Middle Eastern Theatre of War, the Desert Campaign and the Light Horse military victory, to a quiet family life in a gold mining town. Albert, an Australian returned soldier, tells wild stories of bravery while Iris, his daughter, copes with his tumultuous return. We follow a few years in the life of Iris, a teenage girl and her family in Boulder, Kalgoorlie in the Gold Fields of West Australia after 1918. A ghost of a horse has followed Albert home to haunt the family. Albert spends his Sunday afternoons drinking beer from a crate in the backyard, with fantastic memories of ‘The Great Ride’ into Beersheba and Damascus. Iris hears it all and tries to keep her loyalty to her father in the face of his love of a drink, torrid affairs and the departure of her mother, Ailish. Iris asserts her feisty identity and becomes a courageous young woman in search of a better life. (blurb)

The book is reviewed for Honest History by Alison Broinowski. Online Book Club review.